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No More Heroes creator Goichi "Suda51" Suda certainly knows what he wants in a game. He loves bawdy humor, arcade-style action, and absurd bosses. Fortunately for him, he's once again been allowed to do just about whatever he wants with the upcoming Lollipop Chainsaw.

A combo-heavy action title at its core, Lollipop Chainsaw mainly focuses on cheerleader protagonist Juliet Starling and her skillful dismembering of hordes upon hordes of zombies. While grinding zombies into a bloody pulp is well-traveled territory in video games, Suda51's particular insane vision shined right through what could be a fairly run-of-the-mill game concept during a Game Developers Conference hands-on demo of the game. Juliet's combat style derives heavily from her cheerleading background, utilizing everything from pom pom punches to flying acrobatic kicks.

Style over gameplay

Granted, the actual combat experience doesn't quite match with the stylish flair and look of Lollipop Chainsaw. Combat sequences are mostly button-mashing affairs accompanied by James Gunn-written quips from Juliet and her bodyless boyfriend Nick (a living decapitated head attached to her hips). The action often felt a tad tedious, especially compared to the more polished combat of a title like Bayonetta.

Despite this, Suda51's style often shines through, and as always, he wears his influence on his sleeves. In the demo, Juliet and her father are on a search for her sister, who has been kidnapped by a boss zombie and taken into a massive arcade building. After slaying a few lumbering beasts, she's somehow transported into an arcade cabinet, specifically a Tron-meets-Pac-Man-style arena, where she's forced to collect several keys while being chased by a bastardized version of the classic yellow circle.

Zombie + funk = this

Grasshopper Manufacture

This is indicative of the way that Suda51 celebrates his inspirations while putting his own special twist on them. Just about everything in Lollipop Chainsaw draws from Suda51's past. From the Elvis-inspired style sported by Juliet's demon hunter father to the breakdancing zombies that pop and lock instead of dodging, it's clear that large sections of Lollipop Chainsaw are just a giant love letter from Suda51 to several of the time periods that he idealizes. But rather than focus on one or two time periods, Lollipop Chainsaw revels in all kinds of anachronistic chaos.

As Juliet reaches the top of the building in which her sister is being held, via an elevator section reminiscent of something between Q*Bert and Space Invaders, she is met with a zombie boss that looks like he was just kicked out of Parliament Funkadelic. In fact, the fight is accompanied by liberal amounts of funk music in the background. Again, the mechanics of the fight itself aren't that interesting, but the style of Suda51 and the folks at Grasshopper manufacture is hard to deny. Josey the Funk Zombie is hilariously designed, and his level is directly out of an over-designed funk/disco club from some cocaine-soaked past.

Potty mouth

Off-color trash talk is the player's constant companion throughout the Lollipop Chainsaw demo, and an ever-present high school humor soaks through. The game occasionally dips into the realm of being edgy just for the sake of being edgy, with dialogue that's just offensive enough to put off large segments of a potential audience. But for a target audience that loves potty humor and dick jokes (no judgments here), it will be a perfect fit.

At this point, we've got a good idea of what Grasshopper Manufacture is going to give us when they make a game. Often, it's easy to point out exactly which games the main gameplay mechanics are borrowed from, and to pinpoint the signature dirty charm that makes them interesting. With Lollipop Chainsaw, Suda51 is definitely not shying away from those edgy tendencies.